Tougher Than Leather
by WargishBoromirFan
Summary: In Paradise, a certain runt attempts to impress his pack's beta with a change in wardrobe. Featuring ToboeTsume, Tsume/Gehl, the origins of Tsume's earrings, and everybody from Sedo and Chen to Moss and Cole. New chapters 8 and 9 up!
1. Never Was a Quitter

A/N: I own nothing but a copy of the manga and some clip-ons, for which I'm sure Tsume would be grateful. This WIP is set in the same verse as "Shots in Paradise" and a long, ongoing piece called "Paradise Blues." Like "Shots," each chapter in "Tougher Than Leather" can stand mostly on its own, but whereas "Shots" will focus on Quent, Blue, Hige, Hubb, and Cher, this one focuses on Tsume, his gang, and his original wolf pack(1). Toboe, of course, will turn up everywhere.

Warnings: We're dealing with Tsume, so violence, swearing, and slash are pretty much a given. We're also dealing with quintessential Wargfic, so cracky humor and angst are also nearly a guarantee. Don't say I didn't warn you.

* * *

"What are you wearing, runt?" The chubby wolf took in his smaller pack mate with amused eyes.

The littler wolf adjusted the belt buckle, hitching the oversized black leather pants higher on his bony hips. The bulky matching jacket did little to check the image of a boy who had raided his elder brother's closet. "What's it look like?" the youngster snapped back. "And don't call me runt."

"You look ridiculous." The heavyset wolf mussed the young one's long, straight hair, earning him more protests. "How many times did you have to roll up the ankles?"

"I do not!" the youngster retorted, smoothing back his hair. "Leather is cool. And I'm still growing, so I bought it a little big." He shrugged the cumbersome coat into a better position as the beta of the pack approached, turning away from the mouth of the alleyway that they had taken temporary shelter in as they waited for the rest of their pack to finish supplying themselves with what little they could buy or steal.

"You're going to have to get to be nearly as tall as I am before that fits you correctly," the pack's second-in-command said with a lazy smirk. "It's not exactly you, runt."

"It will be," the yearling-grown wolf said firmly, happy to let the hated nickname slide as long as it was coming from those lips. "You know some of the dangers we've faced on our way to paradise, and the journey probably won't get any easier. It's time I grew up and became as good a fighter as any of the rest of you."

"So you went and bought yourself some leather clothes for your human projection?" the chubby brown wolf concluded with a laugh. "You'd have better spent your money on obedience training."

"I don't have far to go to be as strong as you," the lean youngster snapped. The heavy brown wolf leaned forward, showing too many teeth in his smile. The pair began to circle each other in the alleyway as if ready to brawl, but the tall, muscularly rangy form of the gray beta stepped between them.

"You do your share of fighting when you have to, runt, but I gotta agree with porky. You look stupid," he summarized baldly.

"I think he looks cute," a feminine voice opined. The she-wolf adjusted her scarf as she ducked into the shelter of the alleyway, a bag of supplies clutched tightly under her right arm.

Although he usually enjoyed spending time with his pack sister, the young wolf sighed irritably at her poor sense of timing. "That wasn't exactly the look I was going for."

"You ought to show Father. He'd like it," she told the youngest wolf as she handed out food and snuggled up with her chosen mate. The half-grown male tried to contain his jealousy at their easy display of affection.

"He'd laugh, if these two clowns are any indication," he compromised miserably, pointing a thumb at the gleefully gorging brown wolf and ripping into his own share of meat as roughly as he could without staining his new clothing.

"No he wouldn't," she reassured him, brushing his hair away from one ear. "He likes you."

"Speaking of clowns and Father, how is our favorite conspiracy nut, anyway?" the heavyset brown asked her.

She wagged a playfully admonitory finger at him. "You shouldn't speak that way about the one who's leading us to paradise. He's all right, though." She turned back to the youngest, noticing that he had pushed his hair back into his face as soon as he had wolfed down his food. "Why do you keep doing that? Don't all those strands in your eyes drive you crazy?" the female asked.

"Obviously," the chubby wolf answered for his smaller pack mate. The beta smirked and took another bite of his food.

"It covers my ears. At least as a wolf I can pin them back," the young one grumbled, avoiding his pack members' eyes.

"You'll grow into those, too," she told him, but the smallest member of the pack just gave her a disbelieving grunt and pawed through the bag, self-consciously keeping one hand cupped around the more visible of his over-proportioned ears. The female paused, giving him a long, considering stare. "You know, we might be able to do that to your human image, too…" she offered at last.

The elder of the two brown wolves recognized her expression and groaned. "You're not really going to take the runt to get his ears pierced."

"Of course not," she replied smoothly, rising from the comfortable tangle of limbs and food. "I'll do it myself and let him pick out some studs. You're not afraid of needles, are you, tough guy?"

"Of course I'm not! These guys nip me enough that one little prick isn't going to hurt." The young one perked up at his pack sister's nickname for him. She smiled, sharing a knowing glance with the pack beta.

"Just keep it to something simple. We can't afford anything too wild for him," the dark gray wolf told them, slouching back to check for the others at the mouth of the alleyway.

The leather-clad youngster waved away monetary concerns with a thoughtless flick of his wrist, swaggering a bit now that the taciturn beta had given his unspoken approval. "No problem," he said, grinning as he followed his pack sister back into the busy city streets.

The next hour found two cloaked wolves trawling through the marketplace, browsing the various jewelers' displays. "Oooh, those are cool," the smaller of the pair exclaimed, lingering over a rack of golden studs that would curve behind one's ear to drop into a wicked-looking point.

His companion rolled her eyes and picked up something from another rack. "Those are sold individually. If you want a fang, you'll have to earn it. These will be good to start you off with." She placed the earrings in her hand between the small wolf's eyes and the display.

"Thin gold hoops?" he asked hesitantly. "Aren't those a little… girly?"

"They'll bring out your eyes," she told him, smiling. "Besides, you don't want too much weight on them right away."

"I was hoping for something that would make him take me more seriously," he said, touching one ear. She didn't have to ask which "him" the small wolf was referring to. The beta of their pack might pretend not to notice the youngling's fascination with him, but it was clear enough to everyone else.

"He does take you seriously," she said, putting a hand on his leather-clad shoulder. "You're like the brother he never had."

"Yeah," the younger wolf said flatly, sliding out of her grip. "I was hoping to change the way he looked at me."

The female sighed and shook her head. "Oh, T-" A hand over her mouth cut her off.

"Can't you just let me hate you in peace and quiet for once?" the young wolf asked with more sorrow than anger in his voice.

"Nope," she said, pushing his hand away. "We can't change the way others feel, but by the way we act, we can influence our overriding emotions and give an example to others. You love him. That's a good thing; he loves you too, just… not that way. I can't change it if you hate me for claiming him and I'm sorry if you feel that way. But you've been a brother to me, too, and I don't want to lose that to despair or recklessness." She picked up the thin golden hoops and turned towards the merchant's cashier table. Peeking over her shoulder, she let out a sigh of relief when he followed a few halting paces behind.

"So this is an apology present?" he asked as she paid the shopkeeper.

She shook her head. "A help-you-find-your-own-mate-so-you'll-stop-chasing-mine present." The small wolf looked away, trying to keep from blushing. "That's why I'm not going to stop bugging you, kid. I won't let you drive yourself to distraction when you've got a pack to do it for you." Once they'd exited the bustle of the main shopping square, she partially dropped her human façade and nipped his ears. The youngster was too surprised to voice more than a belated yip. "Good thing you're not afraid of needles, tough guy."

"Thanks, I think." The younger wolf grimaced as he reached up to finger the small new holes in his ears and the golden hoops his pack sister had fitted within them.

"You look good, Tsume," she told him. "I know your human image may not exactly be everything you want, but it reflects the wolf within. If you ask me, there's something very beautiful about that."

Tsume, better known to his elders as the runt, smiled half-heartedly and decided not to show his pack sister the golden fang he had pocketed. He would wear it when the time was right. Just because he had stolen it from the human merchant didn't mean he wouldn't try to earn it with the wolves.

* * *

(1) Not necessarily the pack he starts with in the anime. It's set in Paradise, and I couldn't resist including a certain set of fallen wolves in Tsume's background. Fans of a certain tall, scarred, dark gray furred, and yellow-eyed wolf, mea culpa. Please just remember to leave a little left for the Tsume fans to chew on. Yes, the T/T is coming, but it'll be a few chapters...


	2. Scar Tissue

A/N: It's all for the best that I don't own them, probably. As to Zali, I've seen it spelled both ways, but I've chosen to go with the dubs' Zali over the subtitled spelling of Zari, because a.) they were more professional-looking than any subs I've seen, b.) I'm a heathen who prefers the dubs anyway. (As if even onesided Tsume/Zali wasn't a big enough hint... I really do ship Zali/Cole, we swears.)

* * *

His ear hurt, his back hurt, his tail felt like it had been broken, but all of this was secondary to the pain in his chest. Had the human soldiers…? 

No, Tsume suppressed the thought harshly. If the soldiers had gotten him, he would not be in a position to feel this much pain. Humans hated wolves. If they knew what he was, he would be dead.

"You're dead, runt." He recognized those teeth prickling against his throat. Compared to the poison that still tickled at his lungs and the shallow scrapes of gunshot shrapnel, those teeth were a comfort. Or so they would be, if Tsume had not at last remembered just what had caused the wounds in his chest. He shivered, trying desperately to halt the involuntary motion before it rose above his spine. These rounds of wrestling could be as close as he might ever get to snuggling with the iron-gray beta, but Tsume knew that Zali was in no mood to play today. "You ran like a coward, got yourself shot and poisoned, and then fell off a cliff."

"Father threw me off of it!" Tsume choked out between his pack mate's fangs. They didn't relax.

"He had every right to. You know what you were, Tsume, and you still ran." A paw weighed heavily into his shoulder, the nails digging into the leather jacket.

The leather had come to fit the young white-haired wolf too well in the passing years. Having grown to be nearly as tall, although still twice as skinny as his idol, Tsume had begun to find the shoulders of his coat were too confining for his growing muscles, and a good two inches of dark bare skin showed between the cropped jacket and low-cut pants. He had come to wear all three earrings openly; the fang in his right ear and the two thin hoops side by side on the left lobe. Tsume thought he had earned them. The young gray hunted well, and he was becoming something of a rising star in intra-pack struggles. The young wolf would never likely become alpha, and under their current leader, Tsume would probably never even make beta status; Zali was too strong and canny for the younger silver-gray to challenge him, but Tsume had believed himself a capable warrior. He'd proven himself to his elder pack mates as one to be trusted, one who could be depended upon, one they might follow. Then, they had entered the tunnel.

Tsume had charged right ahead, even when a few of the elder wolves had expressed misgivings about the place. The scent of lunar flower was heady in his nostrils, blinding him to any other scent emanating from the tunnel or its surroundings. Zali had followed just behind him, shouting for the runt to hold back until they could examine it, but Tsume hadn't cared. He was running at the lead, Zali at his side, the pack at his back, and Paradise waiting before him. The alpha had been the next, and the rest of the pack scrambled after, crowding into the dark old tunnel.

A pink mist hissed down from the low ceiling, its sickly sweet scent finally cutting through the smell of lunar flowers. By that point, it was too late. Tsume scrabbled to a halt. They were too far from an exit to push forward, too far from the entrance to turn and run. Wolves bolted in both directions, buffeting the young gray in panic as the poison began to take affect. Then came the black-clad shapes of soldiers, their faces hidden behind smooth black red-visored helmets with built-in gas masks. The humans hid behind the debris littering the floor of the old tunnel, taking aim at the panicked wolves with lasers, sonic guns, and old fashioned but still deadly heavy caliber bullets. Zali leapt away from Tsume's side, tackling the nearest soldier and ripping through his armor. Another human took aim at the iron gray beta, and Tsume lost sight of him behind the smoke and the bodies in the ruins. The young wolf coughed, desperately trying to expel the deadly air of the tunnel.

"Tsume! Over here!" There was Moss, fighting off an opponent of his own. The heavy creamy-brown male dodged a laser beam and flung himself at the soldier's head. Although he did not pack the same muscle mass as his father or Zali, the brown wolf's weight was enough to send the human staggering, dropping its weapon as it clawed desperately at the wolf upon its shoulders. Tsume ran, barely avoiding the high intensity blast of a sonic gun. The weapon left his ears ringing, and his vision was beginning to blur. His nose was long dead to everything but the overpowering sweetness of the poison and the maddening, bitterly beautiful remains of the lunar flower scent. He snorted, shaking his head.

There. The exit. It would mean leaving his friends, but in his current state of senseless, numb panic, Tsume couldn't care less. He wasn't sure if anyone was left alive to leave behind. He needed air, and the swath of bright light ahead seemed to promise the purest he would ever breathe. Stumbling as the rebound from a low bullet struck him in the side, Tsume rushed toward it.

Suddenly, the light was cut off, and all that stood before the young gray were shadows. "Tsume?" The voice was muffled by the ringing in his ears, but those tones were familiar. It was their alpha, and he hardly sounded pleased. Mad with fear, Tsume pinned back his ears and lips, his tail tucked firmly beneath him. "Help us, Tsume!" the grizzled, black and cream-colored alpha demanded. The young wolf ducked, trying to dodge around him. "Tsume…" the elder wolf let out a warning growl, cutting him off. The youngster whined and snapped, trying to go back toward the safety of the open plains beyond the alpha. The alpha snarled and grabbed the gray at the base of his throat, tearing deeply into his chest and flinging him over the edge of the cliff. Tsume hit the ground, and knew no more until he had felt Zali's teeth at his throat.

"The others think you died in the fight. Keep it that way, or you'll be dead to everyone," the iron gray wolf told him, releasing Tsume's neck at last.

Tsume inhaled as deeply as he could with an aching chest, reaching to touch first his neck and then his sternum. It had been bandaged with a familiar-looking wide orange scarf. "Why am I still breathing?"

"Because Cole still loves you, runt," Zali said gruffly. He knocked the dark hand away when Tsume began to toy with the knot in the scarf. "You're not gonna look pretty when that comes off. We didn't have anything that would stop it from scarring."

The younger wolf looked up into the beta's face, his eyes lingering upon the long gash down the left side. "We'll match, then. I always wanted to be like you, Zali."

The darker elder grunted and looked away, pushing something small and metallic into his hand. "I only found two." Tsume opened his hand to reveal a mismatching pair of earrings, his fanglike stud and one of the thin hoops. Although he had never liked the smaller earrings as much as his fang, it saddened him to think that he had lost part of his pack sister's gift. Who knew what else he had lost of his family?

"Is Cole…? Are the others…?" Tsume couldn't bring himself to properly phrase the question. Zali understood him, anyway.

"Cole's just fine. Not a mark on her. Moss'll make it, and even Gramps was too slow to reach the tunnel before the action was over." There was a long list of unspoken names that had been quick enough to enter, but much too slow to exit. "Her father's alive, too, but Tsume…" Zali's voice flattened, and his yellow eyes focused directly into those of the younger wolf. "He wants you dead. I can't say I blame him. You can't come home, runt." The beta made as if to rise back to his feet, but Tsume reached to catch him by the arm. Fighting back the ache in his chest and the tension in the older wolf's muscles, the young wolf stole a kiss from the iron-gray's lips.

"I'll stay right here," Tsume said, leaning back on the ground. "You won't have to hear from me again."

"You heal, runt," Zali ordered him coldly, swiping at his mouth with the back of his wrist. "You heal, and then you get the hell out of this city. Find some other route to Paradise; this one's closed off."

"Just as soon as I can return Cole's scarf," Tsume said, touching the fabric wrapped above his heart. The scarf was warm, but the ground was cold, and the fresh air stung his lungs with its chill. To the north, Tsume thought he caught the faintest whiff of a lunar flower.


	3. I Hear That Train A Comin'

A/N: I own none of the characters. Even Mrs. Suna's name comes from the Wolf's Rain soundtrack; those who know the song title it references know why she's mentioned in this fic and not "Shots."

* * *

"Cole…" Tsume said awkwardly, unsure of how to phrase it. "_I'm sorry about your father, even if the bastard nearly ripped my throat out?" "Are you and Moss going to be all right, without the parent who was trying to lead you to paradise, but ended up bringing us to hell instead?" "Now that the old wolf's gone, can I come back?"_ "I heard about what happened at the train-yard," he compromised hesitantly, rubbing at the back of his head. A doleful expression stole over his former pack-sister's eyes, and Tsume looked away. "I'm sorry; I shouldn't have brought it up."

"It's - it's all right, Tsume. Father would have been glad to hear that he was in your thoughts." Cole reached for his back. The young gray flinched from her hand automatically; even if his back had been in better shape, he still was uncomfortable with physical contact these days. Cole noticed his expression and paused, bringing her hand down more slowly to lightly stroke the stitches. "Zali's as doing well as he can at stepping into the void," she added, when Tsume kept his silence. "He doesn't quite command the same respect that Father did, but he's found us a safe place in this city. The humans will never harm another wolf at the train station again."

"That's good," Tsume acknowledged. He had snuck aboard more than one train over the past few months since his expulsion from the pack; although Tsume was officially dead to his family, he hated being alone. He would abide by the fiction the three of them had created, but when his search for the lunar flower scent to the north came to yet another painful dead end, it was this decaying island city and its wolves he always came back to.

"You should come to the train yard one morning before you leave us again. There's enough work and food that the elders won't begrudge your presence. Who knows? It might be a chance for you to rejoin the pack." Cole stood to clean her instruments. The little vet place the wolves had scrounged together their accumulated money to earn was neither well equipped nor roomy, nor was it the most sterile place Tsume had ever seen, but there wasn't another doctor of animals or humans in all of his wanderings that he trusted half so much as the dark-violet-haired she-wolf. Cole's DVM degree was a careful forgery, but those who came here knew what skills she had.

Tsume put a little more effort into strengthening his projection, knowing that he'd be unable to keep his tail from wagging at her offer. "What would I have to do?" he asked, hoping he had kept his excitement somewhat in check.

She reached out to scratch behind his ears. "For now, just come. Zali knows the routine better than I do; he wants to see if we can get any more customers here than you, the pack, and old Mrs. Suna, who's half-blind anyway. That usually leaves me languishing behind the counter while the others are at work," Cole said with mock-distress, dropping another needle into the pack for the battered secondhand autoclave.

"Well, if you decide you need a secretary… Don't call me," Tsume said, carefully stretching his spine to get rid of the stiffness.

"You would scare the customers away," Cole agreed. "So what do you say, tough guy? Shall we turn that place of sorrow into one of reunion?" There was a light half-smile pressed firmly upon her face, but Tsume recognized it for a mask as unreal as her human projection. His pack sister might have always appeared happier than her mate or brothers, but Tsume had learned almost everything he knew about cloaking his emotions from her example.

"Most definitely," Tsume said, dropping the human projection and letting his wagging tail show through.

The waiting room couch hadn't been all that comfortable on his sore back, but it was better than the floor of a boxcar. Tsume rolled out his shoulders, hoping that that popping noise had only been his spine and not the stitches. Cole had told him to approach with his projection firmly in place and stay well away from the rest of the pack until he had gotten the chance to talk with Zali.

She needn't have warned him. Perhaps Cole's father was dead, and perhaps Zali had suppressed rumors of the young gray's survival, but not everyone in the pack was as forgiving as their new alpha female. Tsume stuck to the shadows, considering the various trains even more carefully than he might have had he been planning to sneak aboard one of them. There were no wolves upon the passenger cars… None near the ticket counters… There, over with the dockworkers; that was Zali. The elder gray was also cloaked in a human image, his shoulders weighed down with stress as he stood watchfully next to the human who seemed to be in charge of unloading the nearest supply train. The man shouted something and cracked a whip, and Tsume heard the grind of sled runners from an open boxcar.

"Can't your dogs go any faster?" The man complained loudly, turning a glare on Zali.

"They'll get the job done," the tall wolf said stonily. "You feed us more and maybe we'll have more energy to pull."

The man cracked the whip again, turning his glare upon the wolves that strained at their harnesses. "I don't know that they're worth what we give you now," he grumbled. Tsume pressed his back against the wall behind the balcony, his mouth opening and shutting without any noise. His throat felt too constricted to even release a whimper. "That fat one might make a good stew, but the others aren't even worth that." The human pointed the butt of his whip at Moss. The brown wolf, usually so quick with a witticism or comeback, seemed unaware of the insult, all his attention focused on maintaining his struggling breath and trying to drag the heavy sled just a little further.

"They'll get the job done," Zali repeated, his scarred cheek twitching in repressed anger. Other than that, the tawny-haired image of a man made no effort to defend his pack. If this was safety, Tsume did not want to know what the station had been like the night the former alpha had died. The young gray wolf turned and fled.


	4. Been Caught Stealing

A/N: Studio Bones owns Tsume. Tsume owns Sedo and Chen. Any questions?

* * *

"Now just hand over the bag and your money and nobody gets hurt. We don't want to shoot anybody…" The gun wavered in the young human's hand, but his would-be victim did not. Tsume had only been here three days, but he was already getting sick of this city. Every place he went, the humans seemed just the same: desperate, unimaginative, and _so fucking stupid_.

Tsume reached into his tight black pants, noticing how the barrels of the guns trained upon him shakily dipped in response. "Slowly, now…" the shorter of the pair of thieves cautioned him.

The wolf decided that he'd had enough and whipped out his knife, leaping atop the skinny one wearing goggles. The short, stout one in the bike helmet fired wildly before Tsume shoved his companion into him, knocking them both over and resting a boot atop their tangled bodies. The white-blond leaned over, resting his arms casually against his knee, the spiked knife he'd taken from an earlier would-be mugger dangling playfully from his right hand.

"If you're going to threaten me, be able to back it up," the gray wolf said. "Now hand me my bag and get out of here." He decided to let them live. These two were too pathetic to kill.

Leaving their guns on the ground, the two young humans rushed to do as they were told. Maybe these two had something of a brain between them, Tsume decided. Not much, but enough to make them useful.

The wolf blew a strand of hair out of his eyes as the short one timidly approached him with the ripped grocery sack. Tsume didn't think any members of his former pack had even known that he was still alive, save for Zali and Cole, but he had tied his hair back, hidden his yellow eyes behind sunglasses, and ripped open the shoulders of his coat as an attempt at disguise, just in case. It wasn't much of one, but people tended to notice the giant scar left visible on his chest first and his looks second. Even so, Cole's words about annoying loose strands had come back to haunt her shunned pack brother; the young silver gray found that he quite appreciated having it out of his face. "Hey," he called, stopping the retreating pair in their tracks. "Do either of you two know a good barber around this dump?"


	5. Here I Go Again

A/N: Not my characters. I promise to return them in the same condition I found them in, if not better.

* * *

"I can't keep doing this, Tsume," the golden-eyed woman said, wrapping up the canine's sprained and stitched leg. The pale-haired man had said that the cut had come from a knife wound, indifferently bandaged by an amateur, and then had been sprained when he had tried to run on it afterward. 

"I'm paying you, aren't I?" Tsume grumbled, fixing her with a yellow-eyed stare. "And you keep me patched up and nobody starts to ask just how you get that rapport of yours with dumb animals."

The veterinarian straightened, causing the animal on the exam table to flinch as his leg fell back into position. "I'm a respectable citizen and my pack stays firmly on the side of the law. There's no one that would believe you."

"They wouldn't have to have heard it from me," Tsume said. "And perhaps your pack respects you, but the younger ones can't blame that crazy omega for what happened after he was thrown out with a couple of gigantic slashes over his breastbone. They think he's dead. They know who led them into that death trap."

"Shut up," Dr. Cole growled, dropping her human illusion enough that Tsume could see her raising her hackles. He wasn't sure if it was intentional or done out of a thoughtless burst of anger. He wasn't sure which option was worse. In all the time the yellow-eyed man had known her, Cole had never allowed male posturing to affect her calm. "He was trying to hold you back. If it hadn't been for Zali, I wouldn't have been able to stitch that posturing puppy up. Father hated you after what you did."

"I knew something didn't smell right," Tsume said, lowering his chin to rest on his elbow. "I was scared. I didn't want anyone to get hurt," he admitted in a small voice, examining his nails in order to avoid his former pack sister's gaze.

_Liar_. The word hung between the two, bitter and unspoken but as obvious as the smell of disinfectant. She knew he meant what he had said about his fear - it was a rare enough occasion for Tsume to ever admit anything less than complete cocky confidence - but he had ignored the scent warnings. She obviously did not know whether or not to trust him as to the last statement. "Now's not the time for a reunion, but we miss you, you know. Work a shift or two on the teams, grovel a little to the elders, and for the love of tiny golden koi, no more high profile robberies. If they'll accept you back, you and Zali could put down all these silly posturing blowhards and we could have a little peace. The two of you together are unstoppable, Tsume. You know that, and yet you turn down a beta position for what? Humans?" Cole asked.

Tsume smiled, letting his tongue slip over his incisors. "No, for an alpha position."

"For a pack of one?" In the double vision of a partially cloaked wolf, Tsume saw both human woman and lean tan bitch cock their heads disbelievingly. "Surely you don't count those scavenging crows that follow you about good company. Not even the other humans will accept them."

"I wish you two luck, Cole, but you ought to know that I don't grovel anymore." Tsume examined the bandage around his leg and slid himself off the exam table. All in all, he had gotten off easy.


	6. Fashion Nugget

A/N: Is it called Warg's Rain? Then I don't own it. Yeah, the relatively old school music references in the titles bit is entirely an excuse to call the jewerly when I see it. Well, that and because I don't know what the D.M.C. would stand for, but the "Run" part of the main title's inspirational artist definitely fits Tsume.

* * *

"Don't you want to join the rest of us, Tsume?" the little redhead the wolf couldn't help but think of as "pup" in the private spaces of his mind asked. "Sedo found some beer in the goods from the last raid, and the guys are looking to celebrate." 

The gray wolf waved him away, turning to look out the window of the dilapidated apartment complex the gang used as headquarters. "Nah," he said. "You guys go have your fun, but be ready for another job tomorrow night."

"Isn't it a little early to plan another one?" the gap-toothed human asked nervously, rubbing at his cap. "The cops are getting all stirred up; they'll be ready to start arresting us if they can catch us in the act."

"So don't get caught," Tsume said, glaring down at Gehl through his sunglasses.

"Right. I'll try not to, boss," the little human joked feebly. He looked down at his fist, seeming to find his purpose for coming once more within his closed palm. "Er, Tsume, I found one other thing in the goods. I thought you might like it." Gehl opened his hand to reveal something large, chunky and golden.

"What's it for, leading cattle by their noses?" The thick, squared-off loop matched his two remaining earrings for color amazingly well, but Tsume couldn't believe that Gehl would hand him something like this purely out of goodwill.

"It's just an earring." Gehl sheepishly looked away. "You can still sort of see where your third hole used to be, and I figured since you only have two, you could use a replacement. I cleaned it for you and all."

"Why?" Tsume asked, resisting the urge to tilt his head at the boy.

The short redhead shrugged, extending his hand a little further until Tsume reached out and touched the jewelry within. "No real reason. Just trying to find a need and fill it, I guess."

"Thanks, Gehl," Tsume managed, removing the small hoop and putting the larger one in its place. The scar from the torn and missing golden hoop might have remained, but the skin had grown back over the hole. Tsume would have to start over with the small one.


	7. Living in the Red

A/N: As a tribute to the band behind this chapter's inspiration, sing along if you know the words: _Warg? Huh! Good God! What is she good for? Absolutely nothing..._

I will at least try to live up to my summary; just one more chapter for the OTP. (Gehl? Gehl who?) Seems to me, Tsume likes his vehicles like he likes his men: red up there, small, fast, maneuverable, and preferably topless. 'Tis canon. (/tongue-in-cheek)

* * *

Tsume had never been one to believe in love at first sight, but for once, he was willing to make an exception. He wasn't sure what drew him to the color - blood red brought forth enough bittersweet memories that he'd never wear it himself - but in this case, it looked good, damned good. Hesitantly, he reached to stroke the compact form. It stood perfectly still, as if awaiting his further touch. Unable to restrain himself, the gray wolf swung himself atop, listening as it purred beneath the subtlest turn of his fingers, quivering between his thighs. 

He could kiss Sedo for this. Hell, this baby was worth more than a kiss, but the yellow-eyed wolf knew that offering the straight skinny rat so much as a proper verbal thank-you would just make both of them uncomfortable. Tsume mentally forgave his second-in-command for every perceived challenge to his authority; leading the wolf to this beauty was more than enough to make up for it. Already there seemed to be a natural connection between the white-blond and this most wonderful small one.

The mood was interrupted by the sounds of stumbling feet and struggling breath, bringing the gray wolf back to the unfinished task at hand: getting out of here with supplies and this amazing red. "Hey, Tsume," Gehl said, his eyes widening. "Cool bike."

"Get on and hold tight," Tsume directed over the sweet growl of the motor. "We got a job to finish." The wind was in his face, bringing scents and the thrill of speed, the bike was swift and steady beneath his control, and the brim of Gehl's hat was pressed into his back, the small human's arms clutching firmly around his waist. The white-blond couldn't keep himself from grinning into the wind. This, Tsume decided, had to be love.


	8. New: Not the Age of Reason

_Warning:_ Although the rest of this fic is T, this particular chapter pushes into M territory for language and sexual references. Hide your virgin eyes, runt.

A/N: And here we have Reason #10 (or so) as to Why Warg is Not Allowed to Write Porn and it's all for the best that Bones owns the characters, after all. This rather _verges_ on porn, so those with delicate constitutions are advised to skip on to the next chapter. This one was written last, so you can't have missed too much, eh?

Music inspiration for this chapter goes to the Old 97s.

* * *

He had been here before. Many of the gang members had, once they'd been around long enough. Tsume didn't like discussing business here in his own apartment, but he'd allow them to come crawling on occasion to his door, in ones or twos, bringing news when it was important, sheltering those that needed a place to lie low for a few days.

This wasn't business. Tsume just needed him to lie low.

Gehl had ridden over on the back of the red motorcycle – the bitch seat; they called it, though with Gehl's arms locked tightly around him, his breath warm and irregular against Tsume's back, his small, round thighs straddling the wolf's rear – oh, Great Spirit, was that the beginnings of an erection pressed against his buttocks? – Tsume wondered which one it made the bitch.

"Gehl. Come in," he directed gruffly, hoping he hadn't given too much away, hoping he'd given enough.

Those arms about his waist slid away reluctantly, first one, then the other. The redhead leaned back and dismounted the bike. Tsume suddenly felt cold.

Of course he was cold; this was Freeze-fucking-City, a free city only because it was too far north for any noble to truly desire it for any length of time and he was dressed in torn, thin old leather that practically made him look like a prostitute – hadn't Moss said as much, the first time the runt had managed to kick his fat ass? Tsume wasn't a runt any longer, hadn't been cheap sport for the older wolves in years. They had proven who the whore was when they went to work in that island town…

"Thanks, Tsume." Gehl smiled shyly up from under the brim of his hat. Had he? Did he mean to say…? Tsume couldn't get the locks open fast enough.

He leaned down and kissed Gehl on the mouth as they entered the door. Tsume couldn't let himself brood about the best way to approach the subject. He couldn't come up with any smooth words or careful tests. Recriminations came after a job, and this wasn't a job. He'd deal with the morning after the morning after.

Gehl's lips were uncertain against his; the redhead's cheeks were hot and flushed. He didn't seem to know what to do with his hands, and honestly, Tsume had no idea, either. Shoulders. Arms around shoulders seemed a safe bet. He left them there as he raised his head, kicking the door to his apartment shut behind them.

Tsume's world reduced itself to blue and red and yellow: those widened eyes, that hair and those cheeks, that hat that had somehow survived the wind. Tsume liked red. He was beginning to think he could like blue, very much so. But he could do with a bit less yellow. "Breathe, Gehl." The wolf smiled and pulled off the cap, tossing it to the counter.

"Tsume, are you – are we-" The questions died stillborn on Gehl's lips. He licked them nervously. They were chapped and pink from the cold wind and the sudden warmth of the apartment, the kiss, Tsume noted.

"We'll go as far as you want to," Tsume promised him gallantly, mentally praying that that was a long, long distance. At speed.

Gehl's tongue never seemed to completely stop moving, but at least the words had halted. They both knew that words would be clumsy, distracting things at this point.

Gehl nodded and reached up, his fingers sweaty and chilled against Tsume's skin. Tsume flinched despite himself, but bent closer before Gehl could draw away, daring himself to reach a little lower. One of Gehl's hands had trembled guiltily to his ear, his hairline, his rattail. The fingers pulled uncomfortably. There was more strength in them than Tsume had expected, more eagerness, less patience. It was not an entirely unwelcome surprise. The hand creeping across his chest was more than acceptable as well, even with its irregularly broken and chewed fingernails scraping over his scars.

It was more natural to kiss Gehl than Tsume had anticipated – surely by now he needed air, and yet he didn't pull away just yet. Let Gehl's mouth maintain suction for a moment, inhale through his nose, the heady scent of the younger male driving him wild, breathe back out in a sigh that sounded suspiciously lovesick, and now Tsume opened his mouth a little further, reaching diffidently out with his tongue into the confines of Gehl's mouth.

Too bold? He couldn't feel Gehl's rise to meet it, and the hand in his hair jerked momentarily. The hand on his chest drifted lower, outside the fabric, but at least Gehl didn't appear to be pushing him away. Tsume stroked slowly along Gehl's spine, encouraging the redhead to curve his body closer to Tsume's, and Gehl added a slow rocking motion of his hips, now frottaging side to side, now dry humping, now a teasingly sluggish roll opposite the motion of their upper bodies. Not until Gehl released his hair and ran that hand across his back did Tsume realize how stiff he was getting.

He broke the kiss, resting his head atop Gehl's and answering the movements of his hips, one hand fondling the redhead's nicely rounded ass. Gehl's pants were bulky, but Tsume was almost certain the shorter male was sporting something of an erection now – Great Spirit knew he was. Gehl reached to rub Tsume's through the leather, lips and tongue teasing the dusky neck.

The touch was clumsy, tentative, light enough to make Tsume wonder if the boy had ever even wanked himself off. Not that Tsume had much experience with any cock besides his own, but Gehl's touch was more encouraging and less in the way of satisfaction in and of itself.

Tsume took a step backwards, towards the bedroom, his hands on Gehl's body lingering, encouraging the younger male to follow. Gehl all but fell forward, his legs tightening around Tsume's as he caught himself. Great Spirit, but Tsume wanted those pants off. Now. Was he moving too quickly?

Gehl left off his tentative exploration of Tsume's crotch, pressing his hands against the taller man's chest to right himself. The redhead stepped into the older male's embrace once more, raising himself up for another kiss on the lips. "I love you," he murmured against Tsume's mouth.

The wolf moaned and kissed him harder, his fingers reaching for Gehl's and intertwining with them, allowing a sense of intimacy that not even the younger man's hand stroking his penis had yet brought on. Tsume wasn't entirely comfortable with that word, love. His bike was one thing, but one that could love - _did _love - him back? He had loved his pack, and look where that had gotten him. But if this desire, this need, this willingness to chase after Gehl begging on his knees if he had to wasn't love, then Tsume had absolutely no use for the term at all.

Keeping his fingers interlocked with Gehl's, with his lover's – Tsume sampled the term, finding he could grow used to it – the white-blond stepped behind the smaller redhead. This didn't quite work as well as Tsume had intended; he'd had to release one of Gehl's hands before they could get themselves untangled and his dick was no more sensitive about what laid beneath those damn baggy pants than his hand had been, but he gripped Gehl tight one more time, his hips miming what he hoped to do soon in the bedroom, his lips roaming through the oily red dreadlocks. Perhaps Gehl would let Tsume take him in the shower, too. Oh, Great Spirit, he could roll in that scent…

"You're my one, Gehl. My only. You're my first," Tsume admitted. Gehl's head jerked, knocking into the taller man's jaw. Tsume wondered if it had been the wrong thing to say.

"You're a virgin?" Gehl asked unbelievingly. He sounded nervous. Was he afraid that Tsume would hurt him? That he'd let him down?

Tsume might not have much practical experience, but he at least knew his own body well enough, and if Gehl needed a gentle touch, well, Tsume would _try_ like hell. Oh, well. He'd already said it, so there was no going back. Just run with it and see if someone might admire the scars from this, too.

He ran their interlaced hands up Gehl's chest, inching up the extra fabric of the turtleneck. "These two hands are the only things I've gotten off on." And his own tongue, but as kinky as the image might be to Tsume, the wolf doubted that Gehl was ready to let the beast run completely free through their bed just yet.

Their bed. Great Spirit, they had not even entered Tsume's room yet, neither had removed more clothing than Gehl's hat, and they had not even reached inside one another's shirts, much less pants, for a proper feel, and Tsume was already mentally calling it their bed. He ought to be ashamed at his presumption, but the wolf just couldn't bring himself to give a damn. He turned his palms over, Gehl's hands in his. "Though these have brought me close a time or two."

Gehl squeezed his hands, pulling Tsume's arms about him once more. "No pressure either way, huh?"

Tsume nuzzled against the redhead's ear, kissing it lightly. Gehl wriggled, apparently ticklish. Tsume filed the information away for later. "You nervous?"

"When I think about it." Gehl went still, breathing under conscious control as if he were afraid he'd forget how to do it automatically. He reminded Tsume of a frightened rabbit. The wolf's mouth watered.

"So stop thinking about it and come to bed." He let a hand drift down, outside Gehl's pants for now, rubbing until he felt the warm, solid heft of his lover's penis. He bent forward, steadying himself with a leg between Gehl's thighs as he kissed down the warm cheek and throat… So smooth - there was barely a hint of down on the redhead's cheeks.

Gehl was probably too young for this, Tsume thought darkly, even as the boy moaned and arched into his touch. Hell, Tsume himself was probably yet too young, barely nineteen and turning to humans because he feared further rejection by his own kind…

_Runt, shut up and take your own advice. _The voice in his head was his own, not Zali's, but it surprised Tsume how similar they had become. Tsume and Gehl were young. They were probably a little stupid. But they were in love, and to Tsume, they appeared to have all the time in the world.

He was getting rid of those damn pants. Right fucking now.


	9. New: Mirror in the Sky

A/N: Bones owns all but the Fleetwood Mac lyrics. (Hey, my other potential song choices for this chapter were Winston Churchill as paraphrased by N Sync and the Ballad of Serenity. I'm not too ashamed of myself - it's a space cowboy thing.) If you don't get the mirror reference, I invite you to look up the other manga that the folks behind Wolf's Rain have come up with and a German dictionary.

* * *

Tsume sat on the overlook, just beyond the star-cast shadow of the overgrown tree that had reclaimed the sidewalk. He stared up at the moon, his arms wrapped about his knees. Sedo approached the gang leader slowly from behind, beers held shield-like before him. The human might not know the wolf's true nature, but even Sedo knew that the white-blond was dangerous right now.

"Stars are really clear tonight," the dark-haired man remarked, setting one of the bottles next to his motionless superior, careful to remain out of reach himself. "Almost like you could touch them. You know, some of my ancestors were space cowboys, back before the nobles took over and ruined everything about it," he continued conversationally. The human adjusted the goggles that held his dark curls away from his face.

Sedo took a risk and sat down a pace and a half to Tsume's right. The wolf continued to stare upwards, twitching nothing but a shoulder as if to shoo away an annoyance.

"They were a real crazy lot, those bounty hunters. No home but their vehicles, no family but each other, no future goal but to try and keep flying." The human gangster opened his beer and took in the city before him before turning his eyes up to the dome over their heads. "My dad always said that they made a living by three plans: Plan A was 'take it as it comes,' Plan B was 'first come, first served,' and Plan C was 'wing it.' But you, boss? You could drive one of those cowboys up the wall. I never know what to expect from you, Tsume."

His dark-skinned companion never turned his head. "Sedo? Shut up." A pained growl lurked at the back of the wolf's voice.

"This wasn't my idea, boss." Sedo took a sip of his beer to hide his displeasure. "Chen thought that we might've been too hard on you. Sure, Gehl would have everyone believe that you're the strongest, fastest, toughest gangster on the planet, and he probably wouldn't be too far from the truth, but even you aren't perfect. It could've been an accident. You could be in shock. I'm not convinced, but you can't tell me he meant nothing to you. Time like this, I thought you could use a cold one."

Sedo ducked as the bottle he'd placed beside Tsume came flying at him, shattering on the concrete and spraying him with its contents. "Don't tell me what I need. If you're leaving, then go the hell away."

"Hey, I was just trying to do you a good turn, Tsume. You don't need to bite." Pulling his arms defensively about himself, the thin human skittered further away.

"Go to the train station, Sedo," Tsume directed him. The yellow-eyed man sounded tired. "They're easier to sneak aboard at night."

Sedo attempted to examine his jacket for fresh stains before taking another sip of his own bottle. Its contents were not what they had been before the gang leader's outburst. "Yeah…" he muttered softly. "About that… I'm no cowboy, Tsume. I've spent all my life in this city. I don't know where to go, and heading out into nowhere fast without a plan… I might as well stick with the devil I know."

"Get the hell away from me."

Sedo shook his head and stood. "You're not human, Tsume."

He thought he caught a bitter smile at that, though the moonlight was faint upon the gang leader. "You just now figured that out? You can't trust the mirror, Sedo, even if there's some truth within it."

Sedo considered the pooled beer on the ground, and poured the rest of his into it. Within, there was almost enough to make a small, distorted, rounded reflection of his own face. "To those who tried to fly," he toasted.

Tsume's knife was in his hand before the pale gangster had righted the bottle. The glass shattered, what pieces that didn't fall to the ground embedding themselves in Sedo's palm. That was going to require stitches. "You son of a bitch!" Sedo swore a moment after Tsume expressed similar sentiments. So much for sympathy.


	10. Run On

A/N: I don't own the wolf in black or his companions. Toboe would be feeling too neglected now, otherwise. He's at least had some time in "Shots in Paradise," if you're curious as to what led him to the rooftops.

At last, not one, but two fics that break the Wargish Curse of Seven without becoming unending fics. We've got six more, to be exact, and then an unending sequel. (Well, the ending's planned; it's just the middle of the next fic that could potentially cause trouble... but hey, we've got six more "Leather" chapters and one giant "Shot" for me to get the rest of "Blues" streamlined.)

* * *

The pipes between buildings brought water, heat, electricity, and occasionally thieves. They were rounded, the heater pipes burning hot to the touch and the others were no cooler in summer and freezing in winter, and not a one of them was meant to bear human weight, but the more daring or desperate members of the Claw Gang dashed along them when they felt the need. 

There were no raids planned for today and the police were out of sight, so there was no reason for Tsume to expect to encounter any of his gang members up here, much less a complete stranger. "What do you think you're doing here?" he demanded.

The boy jerked to face him, barely catching his balance. "Just bird-watching," he said rather hastily. "I didn't think anyone would come up here."

"They don't come up here because it's gang territory. Find yourself a roof, kid." Tsume thought about simply walking over the runty redhead, but decided that it wouldn't be worth his trouble.

"So what are you doing here?" the boy asked. He was still sitting. Tsume vaguely considered shoving him off the pipeline, but that wasn't a sight he wanted to see again anytime soon.

"Watching runts," he replied, sticking his hands in his pockets. His knife was cold and heavy in its leather sheath.

"You… want to watch together?" The slender little boy - not quite a young man - at least scooted over on the pipe, as if to make room for Tsume. "We can keep each other safe from gangsters if we see any."

The white-blond let loose a dry chuckle. "I don't need your help. Scram, kid," Tsume said, pushing him sideways along the pipe. He left his hand on that bony shoulder purely to insure that the runt didn't fall off. The gang leader didn't need a murder charge, on top of everything else.

He waited until the redhead had made his way to the end of the pipe before setting off in another direction. Tsume would get no peace here today. The golden eyes glanced first towards the ground far below him and then back towards the rooftops where that auburn-haired kid had sulked off. Closure would have to wait. In Tsume's experience, it usually did, so he ran on anyway, revealing the scars on his chest to hide the unhealed wounds upon his heart.


	11. It's Bound to End in Tears

A/N: I don't own Tsume or anything else of the Wolf's Rain 'verse(s).

* * *

That scream sounded awfully familiar to Tsume. He'd never been one to go out of his way to prevent trouble for his gang members; he figured that if they got into grief with the police or a rival group, they probably had it coming. Still, that howl of fear sounded familiar, awakening the protective instincts within himself that he thought had withered away years ago. Well, it was one way to keep himself from dying of boredom in this frozen dump of a city, the wolf concluded with dry irony, running toward the sound. 

"Runt?" Tsume couldn't quite believe it. "I thought I told you to find a roof." The boy didn't give him a coherent answer, more concerned at the moment with the two street toughs standing over him than the white-blond pipe-walker. Fortunately for the boy, the muggers were more focused on their victim than the wolf and his weapon. Tsume leaped quietly behind them, dropping the men with the butt of his knife. He didn't kill humans if he didn't have to; that led to nothing but trouble for wolf, gang, and pack alike.

The boy was still, his bruised and bleeding arms locked over his head. "Kid?" Tsume toed the redhead in the leg, as far from any obvious wound as he could reach. "I told you to get out of here."

"You… you saved my life," the boy said, slowly lowering his arms. Tsume wished the kid wouldn't look at him like that. There was more trust in those honey-brown eyes than anyone deserved.

"So go live it," the wolf told him, turning away with a shrug. Tsume had seen what came of attachments; he knew better than to let this boy trust him. It was not so much that he feared that the boy would run. That was expected. The silver-gray feared that he could not follow, even if he wanted to.

So why wouldn't the damned runt run away from him? "I'm Toboe," the kid informed Tsume unnecessarily, sprinting after his retreating rescuer. "What's your name? Is there anything I could do to help you in return?"

"Look, if I need anything from you, I'll find you. Get out of here." The wolf kept his hands in his pockets and his eyes on the streets before him. The kid was too much of a distraction.

"Who should I expect to hear from?" The "cunning" look on the boy's open heart-shaped face was absolutely too precious. The white-blond wished he could photograph it and show it to the others the next time the gang wanted a laugh. That wouldn't be happening anytime soon, though.

"Tsume," the wolf grunted, and immediately regretted doing so. The boy was smiling, repeating his name in a soft, breathy caress of a sigh. This could not end well.


	12. Call Me a Shadowing Fool

A/N: I don't own these guys any more than that hat is light red. I don't think I even own any bangles...

* * *

He swore he had seen that cap before. Pulled low over the short redhead's messy long hair, the rounded brim tugged low over his eyes against the rain… a long, thin scarf half-tucked into a bulky coat completed the sense of déjà vu, suggesting that there could have been a rumpled white turtleneck beneath. Tsume mentally willed the cap to be yellow, then worried that he was spending more mental energy on such thoughts than he could afford if he was going to hold his human illusion. 

The black leather and earring-clad form usually came naturally to him. Tsume had had to be very strict over control of his projection for years; unable to drop back into wolf form around humans or wolves since Zali had sent him running on his own. There had only been one night he had lost control; that night the job had gone bad…

That cap was not bloodstained. It was pink, for the Great Spirit's sake; girly, bright pale pink. And it clashed with the orange jacket and that red-brown hair… The wolf forced himself to turn away and head down a back alley. With any luck, the runt hadn't spotted him yet. He was not going to howl, he was not going to howl, he was not under any circumstances going to make a single goddamn sound…

"Tsume?" Why could this boy not leave him alone? He wasn't in the gang, he wasn't one of Zali's wolves, and Tsume didn't even think the runt hailed from this part of the city. There was no reason for them to keep running into each other, but the redheaded runt seemed to keep trying to track the silver-gray wolf down, anyway. Tsume pressed himself against the brick, into the corner between the building and the dumpster and clamped his jaws shut. He felt a whimper rise in the back of his throat and swallowed it down. "Tsume, is that you?"

It had been a mistake to tell the kid his name. Zali's pack would find out that not only was he still alive, but their fallen runt had been behind some of the biggest train robberies Freeze City had ever seen. Tsume found it ironic sometimes that he stole from the very same system his former pack had enslaved themselves to. The rest of the time, it was just tragic.

"I wanted to talk with you, Tsume. Not that we have to say anything serious. It's just that I like seeing you, is all," the kid addressed the alleyway. Tsume wondered if he'd ever been quite that awkward and stupid-looking. Surely he'd never been quite that dogged, he thought, pushing away memories of that clumsy and embarrassing stolen first kiss. Combined with that hat, that memory brought up other things that he didn't want to consider right now, if he ever did.

No, it didn't quite look bloodstained; even as the runt stepped into the shadows, his cap was too light for fresh blood. What that color really reminded Tsume of was bloodstained snow. If it melted, the color would fade away. Tsume allowed his control to melt like snow, scrabbling off into the damp warren of the alleyway.

He swore silently to himself when he heard the scuffle of footsteps behind him. Tsume risked a look back, leaping atop a rotting couch someone had dumped between the buildings. The runt looked up into the gray wolf's true face and stopped in his tracks. "Oh," the boy said, sighing miserably. "I thought you were somebody I knew." He turned and walked back out of the alleyway, his head and tail hanging low.

Wait… His tail? Tsume remained prone on the soggy, ruined couch, blinking against the drizzle and the shadows of the building. He had not purposely allowed himself to be a wolf or be with wolves in much too long. Zali and Cole lived too far south to visit, if they even wanted him around. He was letting his emotions get the better of him; that was all. Tsume was acting just like that stupid little kid, wanting Toboe to be one of his own so badly that the gray wolf imagined that the auburn-haired boy already was.

Closing his eyes, Tsume inhaled that scent that still lingered in the alleyway. There was a strong amount of cat to it, and some rust from those metallic bangles he never seemed to take off, and hints of alcohol and gunpowder and bird droppings clinging to the edges, but overall, the runt smelled … clean. Toboe smelled safe. Tsume just wasn't sure that he ought to be sullying that scent of safety with his own.


	13. So Let's Do it Anyway

A/N: I don't own them. If you've been following along with the music references, you might note that this chapter title follows directly after chapter eleven's. What can I say; Adam Ant just fit the mood here. (Still, I wouldn't call Tsume "Boots.")

* * *

"Why are you following me, kid?" Tsume snapped. He had twisted through every back alley and over every rooftop he could think of, but he still hadn't shaken his pursuer. He couldn't hold back much longer; Sedo, Chen, and a few of his other lieutenants had agreed to arrange a job tonight, and if he was late, it could very well mean the end of the Claw Gang for good. Sedo had threatened to talk, and all of them were as jumpy as cats stood on heated spikes. The disastrous storage house job had made them question his leadership, but a traitorous second-in-command leading the police right to the gang's favorite haunts would mean the end of them all.

"Because I wanted to see you," the scrawny little runt said.

Tsume paused and turned, pushing the automatic "why?" away from his lips. The rooftops would be the fastest way back to the hideout, as long as no one was looking for somebody jumping through the air with superhuman agility. That required losing the boy, though. "You've seen me. Now I've got to go." He turned and began to walk.

"But - Tsume - Tsume, wait." There was a hand upon his shoulder. The kid had even bypassed the leather, placing his narrow fingers, clammy with sweat, directly upon the white-blond image's dark skin through the rip in the sleeve. The wolf shivered at the touch. Tsume wondered if the runt would manage to reach right through his fur, next. Very slowly, he turned to look down into those light brown eyes. "I still want to see you," Toboe whispered, raising himself up on tiptoe and landing a kiss on Tsume's jaw.

On instinct, Tsume pushed him away, only aware of what had happened once the redhead grunted for breath as he hit the ground and the wolf felt the spiked handle of his knife in his hand. He could only thank the Great Spirit that he hadn't drawn it yet. "Don't touch me," the white-blond snarled. Then, because he still felt the tingling warmth along his jaw, he forced his hand away from the blade and added, "Not while I'm on business." He tentatively stretched out a hand to the boy sprawled at his feet. Toboe caught it, his face flushing furiously.

"Find me once you're off," the auburn-haired runt said, clinging to the dark hand.

Tsume raised an eyebrow. "What, you're not going to follow me for once?"

"I could," Toboe said with wounded pride. "But I'm tired of you running away from me. And I'm not a kid, for your information."

He was late. The gray wolf couldn't afford the delay. He stepped forward anyway, brushing his lips against Toboe's eager, warm mouth. "Then I'll hurry back."


	14. Hey Jealousy

_(If You Don't Expect Too Much from Me, You Might Not Be Let Down)_

A/N: Ooh, lookie, the Gin Blossoms' lyrics work as a disclaimer, too. There must be a reason it's one of the closest things I get to a shippy theme song. I might actually be able to claim Seki and Marzello, but they're hardly worth it. Everybody else is Studio Bones'. Tsume, however, is not to be confused with the Zali replacement in the manga. (Not a high point of the manga there... At least Tsume manages to be just as badass in it, if not even more so...)

* * *

"What are you doing?" Tsume asked, watching the kneeling youth with an ill-concealed smirk. 

"Just trying to fix this stool. I like having somewhere to put my cereal bowl, and since you won't let me eat off the bedside table…" the small redhead finally glanced up at him, a hint of accusation twisting that boyish mouth. Tsume resisted an urge to tell the runt just what ought to be done with that cereal. Those pouting lips were made for better things.

"Here," he said, kneeling next to his smaller companion, flourishing a knife. "Which leg's the longest?"

"Oh no," the runt said, raising an open palm to wave Tsume away. "I know how this goes. You'll cut one too short, so then we'll try to even them out again, and then it still won't be even, and then by the time we get something close, I won't be able to reach the counter while I'm sitting."

"We'll get you a booster seat, then," Tsume teased, sitting down on the rickety stool and pulling Toboe into his lap.

"Watch it, I'm about to spill!" the smaller male yipped. Tsume couldn't bring himself to care.

He wouldn't have cared overly much about the pounding on his door, either, except that it wouldn't stop. Sopping up the spilled milk from his leather pants as best he could, Tsume rose to answer the door. "This had better be important," he growled, peering through the peephole. With the way his luck had been running, he'd never get the smell out of the leather before it soured.

"Boss!" the man at the door cried out in distress. "They got Seki. The nobles' hounds just tracked him down and snatched him up. It'll be a full out raid if they can get him to talk and you know he's not that brave."

Grumbling under his breath, Tsume opened the entryway door. "What's the matter?" Toboe came after him, a wet rag in hand.

"Oh," the black haired visitor took a step back, adjusting the goggles strapped around his forehead. "Is it safe to talk around him, boss?"

"Of course! I'm only here to help," the slender redhead said, offering the man a smile.

Tsume turned and examined him with an inscrutable expression upon his dark face. "Better head into the back, runt." He jerked his head, motioning for the black haired man to follow him inside.

"I'm not going to get you in trouble," Toboe reassured, looking wounded by the order.

"No; you're right. You won't. Now go," Tsume gave the skinny shoulder a push towards the bedroom. "Make it quick, runt."

"But - Tsume -" the boy protested once more.

"Get back or get lost," Tsume growled. His underling hovered anxiously around the couch, unwilling to make any sudden moves in case the golden eyed man's temper should turn on him.

"Fine, I'm going," Toboe said, sulking off towards the bedroom.

"Where was he picked up?" Tsume asked quietly, watching his subordinate from the corner of his yellow eyes.

"Just behind the alley near Sixth Avenue. He was alone at the time, although Marzello was supposed to have been with him. Marzello was taking a leak, and when he comes back, Seki's gone and the cops are sniffing all over the place," Sedo said in hushed tones, his wary brown eyes flickering between the closed bedroom door and his irritable leader.

"Move the goods. I want everything sold off, moved out, or trashed by tomorrow." Tsume pulled out his sunglasses, placing them over his eyes. He hadn't even finished breakfast, but that was life for you. "You know where he's being held?"

"Central HQ. They're not messing around, Tsume. I warned you that we'd taken too many risks in the last week." Dark eyes flickered uneasily to the stain on the white-blond's leather pants. "Maybe you oughta take some time off, boss. Run around with your runt for a while and let the rest of us plan a few."

"You think I've gone soft, don't you?" Tsume's voice was dangerously quiet as he turned to face the other man. "You think you can just set me up with a little redheaded piece of ass and then I'll be out of your hair." The teeth his smile revealed were more than human. "Get the others to pull their heads out of the sand, Sedo. We've got a raid to stage tonight."

His subordinate let his jaw hang, slack-faced. "You mean to break into the Central Police Department Headquarters of Freeze City? You're mad, Tsume."

"Maybe a little." Tsume forced his eyes away from the bedroom door. The sunglasses wouldn't hide everything. "But I know my way around there."

"We need to know more than the slammer," Sedo insisted uneasily, his hand gripping the arm of the old couch.

"I don't keep the runt around because he's pretty," Tsume said, pushing his steps towards the heavy metal door to the apartment. The place itself was cheap and battered, but the locks on that door were the best he could find. The yellow eyed man twisted his keys within them, praying that they would be enough and knowing they couldn't be. The lock on his heart had been broken, and shutting anything else was only a temporary solution.

Tsume could only hope that one item of stolen goods would still be waiting for him when he returned. There was no doubt that it was already worse for wear.


	15. Gangster's Paradise

A/N: Not mine, fortunately for Toboe. Yeah, this song... with Tsume... it's inevitable.

* * *

"'A little redheaded piece of ass?'" In retrospect, he supposed that he should be thankful that the runt didn't try to bar him out of his own apartment. "Dare I ask why you keep me around, then?" 

Tsume never pretended to understand the ins and outs of love, but it was times like these that made him realize just how young Toboe still was. Tsume had never, within his memory, mistaken love and sex for the same thing. Love was not something tied so intimately to dominance within the wolf's mind. Love was not a sign of status, a display of one's own power and the quality of one's mate. Love was not something to be dangled teasingly before underlings, to remind them of their place and assure them that one was stronger than they. Hell, if sex was the only way to display his affections, Tsume would probably keep his lover from _walking_, much less walking straight, for years.

Still, the look of betrayal in Toboe's light brown eyes hurt. Shaken over Seki's capture, Tsume had paid more attention to keeping his rat of a lieutenant in line than the feelings of his runt, and Toboe was still young enough to believe in the "relationships that last until the end of the world" shit. It hurt the kid to even have it suggested that Tsume might simply be using him. Not that the gray wolf would do so intentionally, but today had not been the best example of his unending devotion, or whatever it was he felt for the runt. Sure, Sedo was too clever and cautious for his own good and the silver-gray wolf would have time to make it up to Toboe now that the raid was over with, but Tsume hadn't known that for certain. He might display nothing but confidence to his gang members, knowing that the humans were as capable of turning on him as his own species had been, but the bullets had come flying when the Claw Gang had broken into the prison, and Tsume was no more immune to them than Seki had been. The damned useless human had not only gotten himself captured, but on his way to freedom, he'd insured that he wouldn't be able to cave in to questioning, after all.

Nor would Chen. That had perhaps not been quite as bad a blow as watching Gehl float down from the conduit pipe, hanging almost peacefully in the air as he fell, still breathing, no longer screaming, but Chen had been there as long as Sedo had. If Tsume had never quite trusted the man to watch his back, he'd still lost one of the few capable of talking him out of his wildest caper plans. Now it would just be him and Sedo, snarling at each other's throats, knocking heads over acceptable losses. And while Tsume was more than capable of physically overpowering the skinny man, the others would follow Sedo into hiding, toil, and starvation rather than risk themselves to their official leader's wild ways. The wolf's behavior bordered on suicidal ruthlessness; tonight should have proven that. He was risking the closest thing he had to a pack every day of their lives. Was it any wonder they challenged him? They might be useless humans, but the silver-gray was no better than Zali, standing by while that damned two-legged pig snapped his whip at his friends.

His friends. He'd never called them that aloud. Tsume usually wouldn't even admit it to himself. But human or wolf, he had to admit they meant something to him. And so did this boy glaring up at him, demanding an explanation for the cold treatment Tsume had given him earlier. If only the wolf could come up with something to say…

"'Cause you're _not _just pretty." Tsume pulled him towards the couch. He'd probably end up sleeping on it if Toboe didn't out and out call a cab for his pop's place, but Tsume would take whatever moments of comfort he could get at this point.

"No, I'm your spy in enemy territory, aren't I?" Toboe was not relaxing an inch in his lap. "How do you know I'm not playing both sides? My father and sister are mercenaries, after all. I could be one, too."

Tsume leaned forward, burying his nose in the trailing edge of the runt's auburn hair. "You could," he muttered into the younger male's shoulder. "But I'd still want to protect you."

"From your friends?" Toboe's words stung more than he could possibly know.

The white-blond reluctantly raised his head. "From me."

"You're doing a really shitty job of it," the runt informed him. Tsume cocked a pale eyebrow at the curse, but Toboe just shook his head. "You've got to try harder if you want me to stop loving you. God knows how or why, but Yaidens are handpicked to be stubborn like that." He still wouldn't lean back, but Toboe had at least uncrossed his arms, weaving them in with Tsume's about his waist.

"I'll deal." No, Tsume thought, maybe he wasn't Zali. The younger wolf would end up in whatever mess his pride got him into beside his pack of humans, and probably worse beside, but he'd never been able to simply stand by, and he was done running away. There was still the matter of what exactly he was running to, but Tsume would take the lead, and let his scars be damned.


	16. Who's Your Daddy?

A/N: Actually, this is not the end. This is the second (shamelessly fluffy and about as close as I get to porn) bonus chapter that wormed its way in since I started publishing this fic, so now the complete "Leather" will be fifteen chapters in total. What can I say, I don't own my plotbunnies, much less Wolf's Rain.

* * *

_"Old man, take care of the runt for me. See ya." -_ Tsume, episode 29

* * *

"I still haven't forgiven you yet," Toboe informed him. Tsume glanced to the side, trying to gauge the runt's mood from his expression. The younger male was staring up at the ceiling, his hands clasped over his stomach. His rumpled shirttail was riding up, exposing a hint of flat, pale flesh. He'd buttoned it unevenly. Tsume would have to fix that later, but at the moment, the wolf was more concerned with getting the shirt unbuttoned. 

The white-blond felt confident enough to go for a lazy smirk at least, although he kept his dark hands pinned beneath his head instead of playfully yanking the shirttail back down as they itched to. "So that was what, again? Hate-sex?"

Toboe's cheeks flushed, and the runt nervously tugged his shirt back over his stomach. "That wasn't sex."

"It was everything but." Tsume rolled to capture his lover between his braced arms. "And I enjoyed every minute." He leaned down, but it was still too soon. Toboe turned away.

"How do you do it, Tsume?" he asked. The clink of metallic bangles between them acted as a chorus to the redhead's unease. "How can you divide up your life into little boxes and be so sweet behind closed doors, but as soon as they come around, you're nothing but 'Boss?' How come it took me so long to get you to open up this much, and even now, you're still so quick to shut me out? How can you do that and still say you love me?"

Oh, hell. There were tears threatening to slip out of those soft brown eyes. Tsume knew better than to watch that happen, so he glanced down to those trembling lips instead. Not much better. Tsume closed his eyes, seeing as sunglasses weren't much of an option at this point. "Don't be stupid. I keep you away from that part of me for both our sakes." He made the mistake of trying to look into those honey-brown eyes, hoping the smell of saline was only left from old tears. "I'm sorry, Toboe," he whispered in defeat. "That's how it has to be."

"I know you're a gangster. I don't care," Toboe told him bluntly, reaching up to wrap an arm about the caramel-toned shoulder. The wolf wondered if the redhead would be quite so accepting of other details. "You're part of my life. I'm not afraid of facing that. Why are you?"

_Because you're staring up at me. Because you're hanging onto me. Because I don't want you to fall away. _Tsume snorted. "I am not afraid of you, runt," he lied glibly.

Toboe squeezed him closer. "Then why don't you come home with me, to Pop's place? I think I could forgive you if you did that."

Tsume rolled over so that the runt was resting atop his stomach. "Now that is a little much. I'm not afraid of you, but your old man…" The taller of the pair trailed off, rocking his hand in an unsure manner. It would figure that when most of the human world was convinced wolves were dead, the gray would find himself in the arms of a boy whose father not only believed they were still alive, but would be more than happy to finish the job, should Quent Yaiden ever discover a member of the semi-extinct species.

"Oh, come on! You don't fool me; you're not afraid of anything." Toboe laughed disbelievingly. "Not really. Besides," he added in a softer voice, resting his chin against Tsume's shoulder. "I think I'll be getting the place to myself next weekend."

The wolf sank his nose into that tangled auburn mess, luxuriating in the scent. "You have no idea just how dangerously you're living, runt."

Toboe snuggled closer, nipping playfully at his jugular. "I don't care, as long as you're here."


	17. I'm Sure it isn't Good

A/N: Porn? What porn? Warg is not allowed to write porn. The appearance of my favorite Wolf's Rain character in this chapter is yet another reason why this is so and why it's all for the best that I don't own them. (What, you thought Blue or Tsume was my favorite? You think being my favorite exempts any particular character from an uncomfortableness?) If you need me, I'll be in my bunk.

Other things that Warg only owns copies of the CDs for are Run D.M.C., Roxette, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash, Jane's Addiction, Whitesnake, Cake, War, Adam Ant, the Bangles, Gin Blossoms, Coolio, the Zombies, and Mighty Mighty Bosstones, but she's more than happy to share links when asked.

* * *

"I got you a little something for our anniversary," Toboe said, digging at something in his pocket. 

"Our anniversary," Tsume repeated unbelievingly. "I didn't think we had one of those."

"It's been two months to the day since we ran into each other on that pipeline." Toboe shook his head when the tall white-blond continued to stare at him. "Look, do you want it or not?"

"If you insist." Tsume shrugged. "I haven't gotten you anything, though."

"You can make it up to me later." The redhead grinned, withdrawing a small, velvety box from his pocket.

Tsume's golden eyes flashed wide open in terror. "_Runt._ I'm going to have to kill you," he muttered, moving to catch the smaller male. The boy's sister had just gotten engaged, and this seemed to be putting some rather disquieting ideas into Toboe's head, as far as the aloof wolf was concerned.

Toboe appeared quite calm for someone facing his imminent demise, flipping the box open to reveal it to be empty, save for a small folded scrap of paper. Pulling his runt's head under one arm, Tsume unfolded it to read two words: _Find me._ Tsume dropped the note and proceeded to attempt to do just that, letting his mouth do most of the searching.

"Mmm… not there," Toboe informed him as Tsume pulled the boy's shirttail up. He kissed the bared flesh and moved lower.

"You didn't," he whispered eagerly against the fabric, feeling a small pale hand wind his rattail about its fingers.

"You're going to have to be much nicer to me to get that," Toboe replied with a smirk, running his fingers thoughtfully through Tsume's hair and behind his ears. "Though it might prove interesting…"

"I owe you, don't I?" the kneeling man suspected that he would have to return and investigate this spot more thoroughly later, but teasing working both ways. With but the slightest contact along the narrow hip, Tsume pulled himself higher, unbuttoning his lover's shirt as he went.

"Big time," Toboe said, hissing with an indrawn breath as Tsume's tongue, lips, and teeth reached his nipples. "Not there, either."

"Just tell me it's not on your finger, runt," Tsume said, resting his forehead against the shorter male's and brushing back his coppery hair with one hand before exploring Toboe's mouth.

"You're getting closer," the redhead teased, pressing his thankfully bare hands against Tsume's chest and pulling back from the kiss. The tall man's own shirt was bunched up as Toboe threatened to rip it off during their mutual exploration.

Tsume brushed back the hair on the other side of Toboe's face, revealing a small ruby stud mounted in silver. It was cool in comparison to the skin around it when the white-blond took the earlobe into his mouth. "You know, I could get into this whole anniversary thing."

"Good, because I've been very, very nice to you." Tsume decided that it was time to move his investigation back downwards. He pushed Toboe towards the bed, pulling back clothing as they moved. The runt leaned over him as Tsume knelt between the bared legs, lathing his tongue over the pale flesh.

The white-blond had just about worked his lover into a good screaming fit when he heard the turn of a knob besides the one he had currently been working on. Tsume had trouble hiding his disappointment, therefore, when the name Toboe ended up yelling with an extremely flushed face was "Pops!"

The runt hastily threw a blanket over his source of embarrassment, and incidentally, Tsume. "I thought I asked you to knock." The wolf in human form rose from beneath the blanket, licking unselfconsciously at the liquid upon his lips, and lazed on the bed beside Toboe. After one long, hungry look that left the redhead's face even more pink, the runt rearranged the blanket to cover Tsume's leather-clad lap as well.

Quent Yaiden fixed them both with an expressionless stare, and then walked around his son's bed to knock on the adjoining door. "Blue? Did you realize what your brother was doing?"

"As thin as these walls are, it's hard not to. That's why I'm not coming in there, Pops," a voice answered from the other side.

"Right." Yaiden pulled out a flask and looked between it and his blushing son once more. "You tell me if you need the shotgun, Toboe." He shut the door behind him, but as far as Toboe was concerned, there was no shotgun needed. The young man flopped back onto the bed with a groan, covering his flushed face with his hands and rolling into a ball, away from his lover.

Tsume leaned over him, spooning against his back and pushing the long auburn hair away from the equally red face. "If it's any consolation, I couldn't care less what they heard. You're good to me, Toboe, and I want people to know I'm with you."

Toboe didn't move, although he at least relaxed slightly at the contact and let loose another pained moan. "I think I know why they call it mortified. Can I just die right now?"

"Hell no, runt," Tsume told him, nipping lightly at his present. "I have to figure out what I'm doing for you on our next anniversary." He lay still, holding the smaller male until the worst of the excess blood flow retreated from that head. Now if only it would move from his…


End file.
